Brighton
by DRL
Summary: Heero meets an old friend Duo, and helps him out of a difficult situation


Brighton

By DRL

Taking a well-earned break in his morning constitutional, Heero Yuy sank gratefully down onto the bench. Most days he selected a bench facing the sea and spent sometimes a few minutes, but at other times several hours watching the beach activity – seagulls scavenging for shellfish amongst the pebbles at low tide, children sifting through the rock-pools for shells and crabs, while their parents sunned themselves, outstretched on gaily-coloured beach towels and protected by striped windbreaks. Some stalwarts even braved the 'DANGER – DEEP WATER AND STRONG CURRENT' warnings and swam far out to sea. Today however, for no particular reason, he had selected a bench facing the promenade and had seen someone he had never expected to see, especially not here. Black jeans, black t-shirt, black bikers boots. The wardrobe had not changed and neither had the hairstyle – long waist-length, chestnut hair woven in to a thick braid behind and untidy bangs desperately in need of a trim in front. He fixed his eyes the all-too familiar figure that had caught his eye, and watched him with growing puzzlement. The figure, a young man of around Heero's own age, walked along promenade with slow, faltering steps, pausing occasionally to look uncertainly up at one or other of the pretty, pastel-coloured guesthouses that this particular seafront was famous for, before tentatively moving on. Heero rose from the bench and surreptitiously stalked his quarry as the figure made his way along the front, making sure to keep the unsuspecting young man in sight. The figure reached the last guesthouse on the promenade, scratched his head in obvious bewilderment, then turned and proceeded to retrace his confused steps.

This was enough for Heero. He broke cover, made his way across the street to where the young man stood at the foot of a short flight of stone steps that led to the entrance to one of the larger guesthouses, poised as if prepared to make a tentative advance towards the waiting revolving doors. Heero came up behind him and laid a hand firmly onto a lean but muscular shoulder.

"Duo..." He said loudly.

The young man's reaction was dramatic. He started violently, leaped at least a foot in the air and whirled round with a startled cry. He looked around with a wild surmise, eyes wide with what Heero read, quite inexplicably given the innocuous circumstances, to be fear. Then he relaxed visibly as he saw and recognised his assailant.

"Heero," He said with a sigh of obvious relief, "My god, you..., you startled me." The young man named Duo held a trembling hand to his chest in an attempt to slow his accelerated breathing.

"Duo..., are you alright?" Heero asked with growing concern. True, they had not seen each other in a while, but that didn't account for the other man's extreme reaction.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The young man was regaining his composure and he gave a little laugh, half nervous, half embarrassed. "I er, I was just surprised to see you is all. What are you doing here?" He added.

"I live here." Heero replied.

"Really?" Duo said with a dubious frown, as if he found this hard to believe. "Hey, perhaps you can help me then." His expression brightened. "You see, I'm lost."

"Lost?" Heero gave a derisive bark of laughter. "How can you be lost?" This place is not exactly a sprawling metropolis. Glance left and right, and you've seen most of it."

"Well," The young man explained, "I checked into one of these guest houses, dumped my bags in my room, then went out for a walk, you know, to get the lie of the land, but when I came back I realised that I had forgotten which hotel it was." Heero sighed heavily. No, Duo Maxwell hadn't changed one bit.

"So, you can't remember its name?" He asked. Duo shook his head. "Can you remember anything about it – what colour it was perhaps?" Heero hoped that this aspect at least might have made an impression on his friend. The braided young man thought for a minute before replying.

"Well it had windows... and a sort of door..."

"Couldn't you just call the hotel on your cellphone and ask for the address?"

"Well I forgot to bring my cellphone down with me." Duo said, "It's still in my room, and even if I had, I've forgotten the hotel phone number."

"Didn't you write it down?" Heero asked with exasperation.

"Yes, I did," Duo said proudly, "But I left that up in the room too." Heero sighed again and cast his eyes heavenward.

"What are you doing here anyway?" He asked wearily, as he noted another aspect of his friend that had not changed – his absent-mindedness.

"Heero," Came the dramatic reply, "I came here to forget!"

"Well, you certainly seem to have managed that alright." Heero said dryly. "Come with me."

"So," Heero placed a stylishly stout cup, brimming with frothy coffee liberally sprinkled with cocoa powder, on the table in front of Duo, and took a seat opposite him, "What have you been doing with yourself since we last met?"

They were in the kitchen of Heero's flat and it was now almost noon. Duo had eagerly accepted Heero's offer of hospitality and had temporarily abandoned the search for his hotel.

"Since you threw me out, you mean." Duo said rather tersely and he regarded Heero steadily above the rim of the coffee cup he held to his lips.

"I suppose I deserved that." Heero said, after a brief pause.

"Yeah, you did." Duo replied. He lowered his gaze and placed the cup carefully down onto its saucer. "There's been someone else," He said, "And not," He added quickly, "The person you accused me of playing around with when you threw me out. We've been living together in Hillford." Duo continued in a flat monotone. "It didn't work out though, so I left him."

"Is he the one you came here to forget?" Heero asked gently. Duo did not reply. He merely nodded briefly and sipped his coffee.

Heero looked across the table at his erstwhile lover. Perhaps he **_had_** changed a little. There were hollows in his cheeks that had not been there before - hollows in his cheeks and dark shadows around his eyes, especially the left one. His beautiful violet eyes. Heero had always though them his best feature (beating his hair by a short head), but now, instead of sparkling with life and merriment as he remembered them, they were dull, lifeless, and yes, haunted. Whatever had happened to Duo in the short year since they had split, it had not been good – Heero could see that. He saw it and felt a pang of regret, by no means the first since he had turned Duo out of the flat they had shared eleven months previously.

"What happened?" He asked gently, but discomfited by the question and by Heero's intense scrutiny, Duo rose, left the table and walked across to the large window behind the kitchen sink, where he stood looking out onto the beautifully-kept communal gardens, three storeys below.

"I really don't want to talk about it, Heero." He replied in a hollow voice.

Heero filled the awkward silence that followed with a cheery (he hoped) discourse on how he himself, a 21 year-old writer, had ended up living in an cavernous rented flat with a splendid view of the sea, in a sleepy seaside village that was a known haven for retired gentlefolk.

"...It seemed the ideal place to get some local colour, so I moved down here and I've been here ever since." He finished. Duo was still standing at the sink with his back to Heero. He had not moved or uttered a word since he had taken up the position, and Heero was not even sure if he had even heard or taken in one single word. What **_had_** happened to him since the end of their relationship? A sick knot of worry was forming itself in Heero's gut. He rose and moved to stand beside Duo. He raised a hand as if to lay it onto the other man's shoulder, but recalling the violence of Duo's reaction the last time he did this, He let it drop to his side once more.

"Duo..." Heero began, but at the same time Duo turned to him with a bright smile that was as far from his eyes as was physically possible on the same face.

"When do we eat, I'm starving?"

He took Duo to lunch at the best restaurant the village had to offer which, given its size, was surprisingly good. Being a costal town, seafood was a specialty of the house and they both selected this option, Duo requesting and accepting Heero's recommendation. They chatted awkwardly over their langoustine cocktail starters, both tiptoeing carefully around the subject that was uppermost in both their minds. Eventually it was Duo who leaped boldly into the fray.

"I didn't do it, you know," He said as he watched the retreating back of their waiter, who had just served them grilled trout, having first filleted the fish at the table – an impressive feat of dextrous skill, performed in seconds using just a fork and a spoon.

"I didn't cheat on you. Not with Harry, nor with anyone else. I would never have done a thing like that to you. I may have flirted with him a little but I was just being friendly, and it didn't mean anything."

Heero would have avoided this conversation if it had been at all possible, but as soon as he had caught sight of Duo across the street, wandering up and down in a bewildered haze, like a small child who had lost its mother, he had known that it was inevitable. He looked into Duo's clear, steady eyes - a little brighter now but still not what they had been, and nodded.

"I know you didn't Duo." He said.

It was the first time that he had admitted it to himself. He had never really believed it, but in a jealous... no, not rage - Heero was not given to rages, but in a fit of jealous passion (he was definitely given to these), he levied the accusation at Duo and ordered him out of his house and out of his life. Had he regretted it? Just about every single day since, but by the time Heero had bent his stiff back sufficiently to swallow his pride and go out in search of his lover, Duo's trail had gone cold and Heero could find no trace of him.

As was his wont, Heero stoically bore his loss, and while it was not true to say that he never thought about Duo, he was never maudlin' about it. He got on with his life and attempted to fill the aching hole left by Duo's absence by throwing himself into his work. He looked into Duo's eyes, something he had not been able to stop himself from doing all morning, and read the mixture of outrage and confusion written there.

"Then why on earth... "Duo began, then he threw down his cutlery and pushed his chair back from the table, his eyes flashing in uncharacteristic anger. "Oh, I get it," He nodded, as if in sudden realisation, "I see how it was. Heero, if you had grown tired of me and you wanted me out of your hair, all you had to do was to say so, and I woulda…"

"No, Duo," Heero said with alarm, his eyes widening in horror at Duo's implication, but as he looked wildly about him, he saw that their now somewhat heated discussion was drawing the eyes of their fellow diners and he moderated his voice "No, it wasn't like that at all."

"No?" Duo's reply was caustic, "Well how was it then?" Heero gaped wordlessly for a moment, while he sought desperately for a way in which to explain his actions, but failing, he shook his head in defeat. He lowered his voice still further, and his gaze dropped to his plate.

"I..., I don't really know." He said finally. "I was jealous and angry, and I just lashed out. I think I must have gone mad for a while. I said the first stupid thing that came to my head. By the time I had calmed down, regained my senses and went looking for you, you had gone and I could find no trace of you. I was a fool Duo, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry." He looked up again, and locked his gaze with Duo's.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." Duo sighed heavily. "Don't worry about it; it's all water under the bridge now," He continued, "And anyway, what happened back then is the least of my worries."

On entering the restaurant Duo had made instantly for a table that stood beside a large picture window, which afforded a magnificent view of the sea. He now turned away from Heero, casting his gaze out over the shimmering ocean. Heero studied him silently, while the conviction that had been steadily growing, from the time he had first encountered Duo earlier that day, grew greater still, namely that all was not well with his former lover. Heero was now thoroughly convinced that something was very wrong indeed. Abruptly, as if suddenly aware of the intensity of the other man's scrutiny, Duo turned to him with another 'cut and paste' smile.

"What?" He asked innocently.

It took Heero very little effort to persuade Duo to stay the night.

"I've two spare bedrooms," He added hastily, lest he appear presumptuous. They bedded down for the night, Heero in his bedroom and Duo in one of the spares although each, unbeknown to the other, lay awake for long hours, wishing that the sleeping arrangements could have been a little more... intimate.

The next morning dawned bright and sunny and, leaving Duo asleep in bed (he assumed, since he saw and heard no trace of him), Heero took his customary constitutional along the front. Today, however, he had an ulterior motive. As he proceeded along the promenade, he stopped off at each guesthouse and enquired after a 'Mr Duo Maxwell'. As he exited the last guesthouse on the front, he frowned. Not one of the hotels had a Duo Maxwell registered. Had he not himself seen Duo wandering up and down the promenade as the braided man sought the hotel he had forgotten? Duo **_had_** to be registered at one of them, but... With a sudden flash of inspiration, Heero began to work his way along the front once more, but this time, instead of asking for Duo by name, he gave the concierge at each guesthouse Duo's physical description. He struck gold on the third try.

"Oh, you mean Mr Yuy sir." Said the pretty girl behind the reception desk. "I remember him very well because of his hair" Heero frowned.

"Mr Yuy?" He said quizzically, his brows knitting.

"Yes sir, Mr...," She ran a beautifully manicured fingertip along the list of names in the register, "Mr Heero Yuy." She looked up at Heero and nodded encouragingly. "Should I call his room for you sir?"

"No, thank-you," Heero backed away towards the door, "That won't be necessary." He turned and beat a hasty, puzzled retreat.

He turned his steps homeward and jogged back, mulling the situation over in his head on the way. Duo had checked into the hotel under an assumed name – his name. Why? Surely Duo hadn't even known that he, Heero, was here so what, had his been the first name to spring to mind when Duo was casting about him for an alias? Heero was rather flattered by this though. So Duo had been thinking about him as recently as the day before. He increased his pace and ran a little faster in order to get home the sooner.

As he entered the flat the smell of freshly brewed coffee assailed his nostrils. From the hallway he though he heard a faint sound coming from the direction of the kitchen. Duo was probably preparing himself one of his enormous, artery-hardening breakfasts Heero thought with a smile, as he went directly to the bathroom, desperate for a shower and to get out of his sweaty jogging gear. He never, ever forgot the sight that met his eyes when he opened the bathroom door.

Completely unsuspecting, since as far as he was aware, Duo was making breakfast in the kitchen, he opened the door and walked confidently in, his thumbs already hooked into the waistband of his running shorts, preparatory to removing them. As he entered the room he saw and heard two things simultaneously. He saw Duo, naked but for a pair of boxer shorts, standing in front of the bathroom mirror, and he heard the gasp of mingled shock and dismay as Duo spun round to face him, crossing his arms about his torso in a vain attempt to cover himself. Heero instantly turned away in embarrassment, and it took his brain a second or two to process what his eyes had registered. He then realised that Duo's attempt to cover himself was not born of a sense of modesty. He turned back to face the other man, and stepped further into the room.

"Duo, my god!" He exclaimed, his voice tremulous.

Duo allowed his hands to drop to his sides, abandoning all attempts at disemblement. His secret was out.

"Heero..., it's..., it's not as bad as it looks." Duo stammered lamely, but Heero was not listening. He stepped closer still and stared with open-mouthed horror at the bruises, cuts and contusions, fresh and fading, healed and healing, that covered the braided man's body. As he stared, ridged with shock and revulsion, he suddenly realised why it was that Duo's left eye was more shadowed than his right. What he had taken for a shadow was actually the fading remains of a black eye.

"Oh no," Heero said plaintively, shaking his head, "No Duo, tell me he didn't do this to you, the one you came here to forget. Tell me it wasn't him."

Duo looked sorrowfully at him and gave a single, brief nod. Heero gave an inarticulate cry of dismay, closed the remaining distance between them and enfolded the other man in his arms. As he held Duo close, a tide of emotion washed over him and he did a thing he had not done for a very, very long time – he wept. He wept for the physical decline of the man he had once playfully dubbed 'the most beautiful creature in the world'. He wept for the pain, aguish and suffering that his friend must have undergone, a suffering that he could only imagine, but the results of which were all too evident. Finally, he wept for the part he had played in bringing Duo to this, because it had, of course, all been his fault. Had he not, through his own irrational jealously, turned Duo out onto the street, none of this would have happened.

For his part, seeing his stalwart former lover reduced to tears caused Duo to break down also, and he too dissolved into floods of tears but unlike Heero, this was a state that Duo was all too familiar with. The two men clung to each other in the bathroom of the flat, both weeping and between sobs, both apologising to each other, though neither of them knew what the other was actually apologising for.

Heero was the first to regain his composure, although it was more of a stunned torpor than actual composure. Duo had obviously been about to take a bath when Heero had interrupted him. The bath was filled with heated water topped with fragrant foam, and Heero now guided Duo towards it and lowered him gently into the water, pausing momentarily to remove the underwear that he still wore. He encouraged the other man to lie back and relax, allowing the warm water to soothe away the aches and pains of his battered body and shushing him whenever he attempted to voice yet another apology, or to offer any explanation.

"Shhh," Heero would murmur, "Later. That will all come later. Just relax now."

When Duo was lulled almost to sleep by the warmth of the water and Heero's gentle words, Heero lathered a sponge and worked him over with light, massaging strokes, taking care not to aggravate any of his wounds. He then rinsed Duo off, bade him stand and wrapped him in a fluffy towelling robe.

Eschewing breakfast as it was now closer to lunchtime, he made them both coffee, and much as they had done 24 hours previously, they sat facing each other across the kitchen table with a cup of coffee apiece. This time however, the coffee, served in minute china cups, was thick, strong and almost pitch black in hue, Heero having deemed the light, frothy confection of the previous day inappropriate for the current sombre mood.

"So," Heero began. Duo was obviously anxious to make a clean breast of things, now that the cat was out of the bag and Heero felt that the time was right, now that both of their emotions were a little more stable. "Tell me all about it." He said, and smiled encouragingly. Duo sighed heavily and began.

The story he told was one that was all too familiar to Heero from talk shows on daytime tv and such like, but one that he had never expected to hear from someone of his acquaintance, far less someone of his intimate acquaintance. This sort of thing was as far removed from Heero's neatly ordered world as Earth was from the sun. Duo related how he had met the man shortly after he and Heero had parted. He was not all that Duo might have wanted, but Duo was alone and vulnerable after Heero, and this new man seemed to offer, if not all the warmth and companionship that the loss of Heero had taken away, at least a modicum of it and for Duo at the time, it was better than nothing. Things were okay for a while, but it didn't really take long before the cracks in the character of Duo's new swain began to show. Little things that Duo did began to irritate him, then to annoy him. The 'little things' that precipitated this reaction became virtually anything Duo did, and the annoyance escalated into ungovernable anger, which eventually erupted into violence.

"The first time he hit me," Duo said in a monotone, "He cried afterwards. He said that he loved me and swore it would never happen again. And like a fool I believed him." At this point Heero had heard enough. He knew well enough how the story would pan out, but he had not the heart nor the inclination to stop Duo. The braided man clearly wanted to unburden his soul – **_needed_** to, Heero thought. "Of course, it did happen again," Duo continued, "And this time he said he only did it **_because_** he loved me. Then it became all my fault, and he wouldn't have to do it if I didn't keep doing things that annoyed him, which was just about everything I did, so I was pretty much damned if I did and damned if I didn't." He gave a bitter, mirthless laugh.

"We were together for about 9 months. It wasn't all bad, but the times that were bad were **_very_** bad. He put me in the hospital once, and when I got out, I kept on going. He found me though, and begged me to come back. I didn't want to go but he resorted to threats, and by that time I was so frightened of him that I went. He promised to change, and he did for a while, but it didn't take him long to lapse back into his old ways. A couple of weeks ago I came home from the grocery store with the wrong brand of ketchup and 'WHAM'", Duo slammed his fist down onto the table top, causing Heero to start violently, "I became a punch-bag again. Our neighbours finally had enough and called the cops. They arrested him and tried to persuade me to press charges. I didn't though. I didn't want any trouble," He said defensively, in response to Heero's incredulous stare, "I just wanted him the hell way from me and out of my life. Even if I did press charges, the cops couldn't have held him. They would have let him out on bail pending trial, and what do you think he would have done to me then, huh?" Heero nodded his understanding and Duo continued in a more conciliatory tone.

"I did get an injunction though, so he's not supposed to come within 5 miles of me, or some shit like that. For what it's worth." Duo added dryly. "I mean, who's going to stop him?"

'Me,' Thought Heero, "I'll stop him. I'll kill him if he ever comes anywhere near you ever again. I swear it on my life!'

It was a silent vow, however. Heero figured that Duo had had enough of violence to last him several lifetimes and that such a declaration would have been given short shrift by his friend. It was no less solemn for being unuttered, and from that moment Heero considered himself Duo's protector.

"What's to stop him coming after me whenever he wants to?" Duo continued. "I mean, he came after me the last time. Okay, I didn't have an injunction then, but pah...," Duo gave a dismissive flick of his wrist, "Dean was never one to follow orders. I wouldn't put it past him to come after me just because the judge told him not to, whether he actually wanted me back or not. And how's that injunction gonna work anyway? He'd have to know where I was in the first place so that he could stay away, and..." Duo lowered his gaze, and picking up the minute coffee spoon, stirred his coffee with a hand that trembled so much that the spoon beat an irregular tattoo against the sides of the tiny cup. "I don't want him knowing where I am. I tell you Heero," He said in a voice hoarse with pent-up emotion, "I'm scared to death. I've been looking over my shoulder so much this past week that I'm beginning to think my head's on backwards. When you touched my shoulder yesterday, I almost jumped clean out of my skin - I swear to god I did. I thought it was him. When I saw that it was you I was so..., I...," Tears jewelled Duo's eyes, but Heero was around the table and at his side before any could fall. He drew his stricken friend into his arms and whispered soothing words of comfort and reassurance as Duo wept.

"Come on," He said when Duo's tears had finally subsided, "Let's go and get your things from that hotel. You're moving in here with me."

Once again, Duo needed no second bidding and later that day they collected Duo's luggage, Heero explaining on the way how he had penetrated Duo's subterfuge and discovered the elusive hotel. It was tacitly agreed between them that Duo would no longer sleep in the guest room. They slept together in the master bedroom, chastely at first, but they soon resumed their former intimacy, as lovers. When Duo's bruised and battered body had healed, he found work as a waiter at the same seafood restaurant that Heero had taken him to on that first day. He had ceased to look over his shoulder and was happy for the first time in many months.

However, if Duo had stopped looking over his shoulder, Heero had stepped in and taken up the slack. He insisted on meeting Duo from work and accompanying him home after late shifts, and it soon became second nature for him to surreptitiously scan the faces of the crowds of visitors that the picturesque seaside town attracted at this time of year, for any sign of Dean Croner, Duo's abusive ex-lover. Duo had managed to find a photograph of himself and Croner together, taken in happier times, tucked deep into a corner of his wallet, so Heero knew exactly what he was looking for, allowing for the fact that Croner might well have altered his appearance in an attempt at a crude disguise. Heero, being only human, studied Croner's darkly handsome face in the photograph and wondered, had things been different, whether Duo would have preferred Croner to him. He grudgingly admitted that they made a good-looking couple, but Heero detected a coldness in Croner's gaze and an unmistakable trace of cruelty around his mouth that spoke of things to come.

Heero kept a silent watch, but when the blow finally came, it came in a way he least expected. It was early afternoon, late in the season. Duo was out shopping for groceries and Heero did not expect him back for some hours. He had gone out on foot, combining a trip to the local shops for some fresh produce for supper with a stroll along the seafront. Heero had no particular worries regarding Duo's going out alone during the day. It was just after dark that he insisted on accompanying him everywhere. He assured Duo that this was because, as quaint and tranquil as the town was by day, by night the streets became filled with gangs of drink-sodden revellers from neighbouring towns determined to round off an evening's hard drinking with a skinny dip in the sea. This was only moderately true. While this did happen on occasion, it was by no means a problem and would scarcely have necessitated Heero's escorting Duo home from work every evening. Duo did not seem to question this, however, and he dutifully waited for Heero to pick him up ('...remember Duo, wait for me **_inside_** the restaurant, never **_outside_**, okay?') after every late shift.

A sudden gnawing pang of hunger caused Heero to look up from his work and glance at his watch, idly wondering what Duo would be brining home for dinner this time. Although he currently worked as a waiter, Duo was a fully trained chef and Heero looked forward to mealtimes with eager anticipation. When the doorbell suddenly chimed he was only mildly surprised. Heero very seldom received callers and he assumed that Duo had once again forgotten his latchkey. He rose and crossed to the door, throwing it open expectantly. The good-natured rebuke he was about to deliver died on his lips, just as the welcoming smile was stricken from his countenance as he beheld the stranger on his doorstep. Instantly on his guard, Heero stared at the stranger. He saw at once that it was not Croner, but he remained tense and wary.

The other man's calm demeanour remained so. He was tall and spare, with a face of indeterminate age, yet he bore the time-ravaged look of a man who had seen much and experienced even more. His eyes, not unkind, rested gently on Heero. The two men looked at each other, Heero tense and unfriendly, the other man calm and insouciant. The man spoke first.

"You would be Heero Yuy." He stated, in a slow, deliberate voice.

"What do you want?" Heero barked warily.

"I need to speak to you about Duo Maxwell." Heero's eyes narrowed. It came as no surprise to him. He had known as soon as he had seen the man on his doorstep.

"Why, who are you?" The man smiled a grim, introspective smile, as if at some joke that only he was privy to, and one that was not all that funny anyway.

"I am a private investigator, Mr Yuy, and I have something important to say to you about Duo Maxwell". Heero drew a breath as if about to interrupt him, but the man continued, his voice now low and urgent. "I know that Mr Maxwell is out at the moment and I would like to finish this before he returns. If you tell him afterwards, that's up to you, but I would like to talk to you alone first, so perhaps we could go inside? This might take some time." Heero looked at him contemplatively for a moment, then he stepped back and allowed the man in.

Heero settled his guest on the overstuffed leather sofa in the living room. It was a large, bright and sunny room, with high ceilings and large, tall sash windows, looking out onto the promenade, the golden sands of the beach and the glittering blue of the sea beyond. The man looked around and nodded approvingly.

"It's nice in here." He said. Heero merely grunted non-committally and sat down in an arm chair, facing his visitor. The man came straight to the point.

"My name," He began, taking a small, white card out of a silver card-case and offering it to Heero, "Is Ferdinand Iain Gilmore Newton, and as I said, I am a private investigator." Heero glanced down at the card, and despite himself he smiled wryly. On the card was written "F.I.G. Newton, Private Investigator" 1 in bold copperplate. Newton smiled also. "I know," He said, "And my parents swear that it wasn't deliberate." His smile abruptly faded and he looked gravely at Heero.

"Mr Yuy, I've seen you and Mr Maxwell together and I know that the two of you are er..., close. Yes, I've been watching you for some time." He said in response to Heero's frown. "I'm sorry, but it's my job. It is no part of my job to put anyone in danger, however, and that is why I am talking to you now. " Heero listened in intent silence, and Newton continued.

"A few months ago a man named Dean Croner walked into my office, handed me a photograph and asked me to find the person in the picture. Now, under normal circumstances I would never give away any details of any of my clients, but I think that this is a special case." Newton broke off and handed Heero a dog-eared photograph. Heero recognised it instantly; he had taken it himself. The photograph was of Duo, dishevelled, ruddy-cheeked and smiling happily.

Heero remembered the occasion well. They had been on a visit to a popular beauty spot and had stopped for an hour or so to consume the picnic lunch they had brought with them. They had engaged in a good-natured tussle for the last sandwich, which Duo had won – something of a pyrrhic victory, since the sandwich had been crushed by their duel and was thus rendered completely inedible – but Heero had taken a quick snapshot of the victor just before he realised just what had become of his prize. An involuntary smile tugged at his lips as he regarded the photo, but he quickly schooled his features and handed it back. Newton took it as he continued his narrative.

"He gave me the name of the young man in the photograph and he gave me details of his last known whearabouts, a list of his favourite haunts, etc. When I asked him why he was so desperate to find this man, Croner's manner suddenly became shifty and evasive. He gave me an answer but..., let's just say that I was not born yesterday.

"I took the job, but while searching for Mr Maxwell I also did a little research of my own into the background of Mr Dean Croner. It didn't take me very long to find out just about all there was to know about him and the guy in the photograph. I'm a pretty good detective, Mr Yuy, but any fool could have deduced that whatever Croner wanted the kid Duo Maxwell for, it wasn't anything good. I also found out that Maxwell had gone so far as to get a court order to keep Croner away from him. I made a decision then. I decided that I was not going to give Maxwell over to Croner like a lamb to the slaughter. Maxwell had walked away from Croner, and if I had anything to do with it, he was going to keep on walking.

"I managed to trace Maxwell to this town, and then to your house. He made an attempt to cover his tracks, but as I said, I am a pretty good detective. I kept him under observation for a short while and I saw that he had a good thing going here with you. I noticed the way you always picked him up after night shifts and how you always kept a weather-eye open whenever the two of you were out together in the town. Don't worry," He said quickly, "You were very discreet, but don't forget, I am a trained observer. What I saw convinced me that at least you were aware of the threat from Croner, even if Maxwell seemed oblivious to the danger he was in. Therefore, I decided to approach you first with my warning." Heero spoke for the first time since Newton had begun his story.

"Have you told Croner that you have found Duo?" He asked. Newton shook his head.

"No, I haven't told him anything yet. I intended to tell him that I was unable to find Mr Maxwell once Duo has moved on. My honest advice to you Mr Yuy, is to take your lover away from here as soon as you can. I will tell Croner that I couldn't find Maxwell, but he won't give up. I've met his type countless times before in my line of work. He'll just hire another detective, and though I hate to say it of my fellow practitioners, they are not all as scrupulous as I am.

"From what I can see, Maxwell seems like a good kid. I don't know how a kid like him got involved with someone like Croner in the first place, but if you care anything for that young man, and I can see that you do, you won't let him fall into Croner's hands again. Dean Croner can certainly turn on the charm when he wants to, but he is not a very nice man at the best of times. He's even worse when he's angry and I can assure you, he's plenty angry with Maxwell right now, and getting angrier by the minute."

Heero stared into the empty fireplace, deep in thought. Newton was right – Duo's safety would be compromised if he remained here for much longer. He looked slowly around the pleasant sitting room, with its primrose walls and pretty watercolour paintings. He had been happy here – they both had, but Newton was right. Duo was no longer safe here, and Heero had long since decided that his future lay with Duo, which meant that he would also have to leave. But perhaps not..., perhaps there was a way... He turned back to Newton, his mind made up.

"Mr Newton," He said resolutely, "I need your help."

Heero watched as Duo picked up the local paper and read the headline once again, shaking his head slowly in disbelief. MAN'S BODY FOUND ON BEACH. Duo had read the article so many times that Heero was sure he could have recited it by word for word by rote.

_The naked body of a man was found among some rocks in the shallows, early yesterday morning. The body was found by a small boy, aged 6, who was playing on the beach while his mother sunbathed nearby. The victim was identified as Dean Croner, aged 30, a guest at the Majestic Hotel. Croner was last seen by hotel staff the previous morning, leaving the hotel with a towel tucked under his arm. The police believe that Croner underestimated the strength of the current and drowned accidentally during an early morning swim. Though there was some bruising on the body, no foul play is suspected. "Tourists will insist on swimming in the sea despite the warning signs that are everywhere", said Paul Harker, aged 42, manager of the Majestic, "I'm frankly surprised that this doesn't happen more often." Croner was thought to have been in the area visiting a friend, but his friend was too upset by the news to be interviewed. An inquest into the death will be held next Tuesday._

It was a chance remark of Duo's that had given Heero the idea. When remarking on Heero's penchant for daily early-morning exercise, he had mentioned that Croner had also advocated this, although Croner's avocation was swimming. From then on it had all been absurdly simple. Newton had fed Croner the bait and he had swallowed it hook, line and sinker. If Newton had guessed at Heero's intentions, he gave no sign. He carried out his part admirably, and consequently Croner turned up at the specified place, at the specified time. He checked into the Majestic, spent a quiet night, then did exactly as Heero had anticipated – he went for an early-morning swim. Although it was not his activity of choice, Heero was a strong swimmer. This was just as well, because not only was Croner also a strong swimmer, he was an extremely strong man. He was strong, but undisciplined and bumbling, and Heero, trained as he was in several martial arts disciplines, knew very well how to disable an opponent swiftly and cleanly. He then held Croner's head under the ocean surface for six minutes exactly, before turning and swimming back to shore, without so much as a backward glance.

The body washed up two days later, and was found by the child, as reported in the newspaper. Heero deeply regretted this, and hoped that the boy was not too traumatised by his experience. The police turned up on Heero's doorstep a few days after the body's discovery, asking for Duo Maxwell. Heero would have preferred to have spared Duo this, but he had to let things play themselves out, or risk drawing attention to himself.

The two officers were sensitive and kind when they informed Duo that his former lover had defied the injunction and had come looking for him, but had fallen foul of the strong ocean current and had drowned, but when they asked Duo to formally identify the body, Heero rose up in protest. No, absolutely not! He would not allow it. Duo was upset enough, could they not see that? Duo was indeed stunned by the news, but despite Heero's fierce protestations, he finally agreed to perform the identification just, he later confessed to Heero, to get them out of the house. Afterwards, he wept for hours in Heero's arms, not, he sobbed, because he was sorry that Croner was dead, but that he was relieved to finally be truly free.

Croner was buried and Duo was the only mourner. Heero was there too, but only for moral support. He and Duo continued to live in the small costal town. Duo, having been surprised to learn that he was the sole beneficiary of a life insurance policy that Croner had possessed, had used the money to buy the seafood restaurant from his former boss, and now the place, already well respected, had a reputation that was growing fast. Heero finished his book and embarked on another, still stimulated and inspired by his surroundings. He jogged along the promenade every morning and each day he took a break, sometimes choosing a bench facing the sea, sometimes facing the front, but never, ever did he give a thought to what occurred early that fateful morning, when his desire to protect the man he loved drove him to commit a desperate act. After all, the end justified the means, didn't it?

1 Where I live a fig newton is a type of biscuit or cookie, also sometimes called a fig roll.

24


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